More To Life
by Double Helix Nebula
Summary: Elsa, a Norwegian medical student studying at UC San Francisco, is a typical college student; mixing fun with tons of all-night studying and homework. Tadashi is a barista and an aspiring startup entrepreneur. Both lead rather mundane lives but when their paths cross, their lives change. TadaElsa
1. The Barista

"Homework is light tonight. Just go through chapters 3 and 4 and put the finishing touches on your papers which are all due tomorrow. Class dismissed." the professor said.

At that, the class began to get up and leave. Off in the corner, two blonde women put their things away.

"Are you coming to the party tonight, Elsa? You should totally come!"

"I don't know, Rapunzel. It depends on how much I get done." Elsa responded as she closed her laptop and opened her bag, "My backlog of work is far more than I care to admit."

"But don't you see; that's why you _should_ come!" Rapunzel said as she placed her hand on Elsa's back, "You need to relax from all that medical homework."

Elsa looked back at her and gave her a funny look before shaking her head.

"I want to actually graduate so..." Elsa said as she put her laptop in her bag and began placing her books, notepads, pens and highlighters in as well.

The German student laughed and smacked Elsa on the back. She let out a small yelp when Rapunzel smacked her back and she looked at her with a sharp look. She looked back at the Norwegian with a smug gaze. Elsa just laughed and shook her head as she finished putting away all of her things before standing up, Rapunzel following suit.

"Well maybe a break from all of that studying will give you the boost you need!" Rapunzel said, "You know what they say; all work and no play makes Elsa a dull girl. Or was it Jack, a dull boy? I forget."

Elsa laughed again and shook her head as the two made their way out of the classroom. Rapunzel pulled her phone out and began texting someone. Elsa pulled ou her S8+ to check the time before stuffing it back into her pocket and then looking over at Rapunzel texting.

"Who's that?" she asked absent-mindedly.

"Oh, it's just Flynn. He wants me to meet up with him after football practice."

"I'll never understand why Americans call football 'soccer' with 'football' being something entirely different altogether here." Elsa mused aloud.

Rapunzel shrugged as she put her phone back in her pocket, "You're asking the wrong girl."

"Well, I mean, I'm just saying..." Elsa muttered under her breath.

The two walked in silence; Rapunzel to her next class and Elsa to the coffee shop down the street to get some work done.

"Oi Rapunzel! _Was geht's_?" called someone from the sideline.

Rapunzel looked around and saw one of her friends, a black girl who spoke German. Rapunzel greeted her enthusiastically.

"Tiffany! _Komm! Kommen sie!_ " Rapunzel motioned.

Elsa watched as the girl came over and the two hugged each other before Ella turned to Elsa.

"Tiffany, this is my good friend, Elsa. She's from Norway." Rapunzel introduced, "Elsa, this is Tiffany. I'll let you guess as to why we clicked instantly."

Elsa smiled and held out her hand. Tiffany shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Tiffany."

"Likewise, Elsa." Tiffany smiled.

"You _sprechen_ d _ie Deutsch_?" Elsa asked.

"Yes." Tiffany laughed, "My father...well, step-father, technically, is from Germany and he spoke German to my brother and I at home so I eventually came around to it."

"That's really cool!" Elsa said.

"Thanks." Tiffany laughed as she nervously rubbed the back of her head.

"So Tiffany." Rapunzel said, touching her shoulder.

Tiffany faced her and the two began to converse German. Elsa was completely lost on the conversation as the two went back and forth. She smiled awkwardly as she watched the two go back and forth before she decided to excuse herself.

"Hey you two. I need to get going." Elsa said as she took a couple steps back.

"Alright, it was nice meeting you, Elsa!" Tiffany said, "We'll talk later, _ja_?"

Elsa nodded her head.

"Absolutely."

"Alright, take care, Elsa! I'd better see you at the party!" Rapunzel said as she stepped over to Elsa and gave her a hug, "If I don't, then I might have to break out the waterworks. And you don't want my tears on your conscious, do you?"

Elsa just laughed and shook her head as the two embraced before breaking away.

"Maybe."

Rapunzel laughed and then patted her on the shoulder. With that Elsa broke away and Rapunzel and Tiffany walked together to their next class. Elsa let in a breath and then let it out long and slow as she made her way off campus and towards the Lucky Cat Cafe. She often liked to do her studying and work at the local coffee shops instead of the campus coffee shop or the library. She had recently found her new favourite coffee shop down the street; she liked it there. She was really in her head during the walk over, thinking about many things related to school and life and before she knew it, she was standing in front of the cafe. She had almost walked right past it, she was so deep in thought. She walked in and looked around to find a free table, finding it a little busier than usual. Luckily for her, someone was getting up so she hurried over and claimed the table before someone else did, setting her bag down before getting in line.

"Hey, Elsa. Good to see you again." the owner said with a smile.

"Hi Cass. Good to see you too." she said.

"So what are we having today?"

"Uhhhmmm..." Elsa hummed as she quickly made her last minute decision, turning back to face her, "I'll have a Mexican spiced mocha and a croissant turkey avocado BLT."

"Sounds delicious." she said, "So how's school?"

"Ah, you know." Elsa chuckled, shrugging her shoulders, "Busy as hell."

"I've no doubt. You're a medical student too, right?"

"Yeah." Elsa nodded.

"Ah, so it's even _more_ work." Cass chuckled.

"Don't remind me." Elsa said, shaking her head.

She laughed again, "Alright, well we'll have that up for you in just a few minutes."

Elsa thanked her before heading back to her table and unpacking her laptop, books, binders, pens and highlighters. And it was back to work for her. It was a few minutes before her order was finished and Cass brought it up to her. Elsa looked up at her and smiled.

"Ah, thank you." she thanked.

"No problem. Enjoy!"

Cass went back to the front to help the next customers. Elsa went back to work. The time melted away as she got schoolwork done.

"Welcome back from vacation!"

"I had fun, but it's good to be back."

Elsa paid no mind to it.

"Well, I don't think I need to tell you what to do."

"No, you don't." he chuckled.

"Damn, was that the right answer this whole time?" Elsa whispered to herself under her breath, "Shit..." she said as she picked up her highlighter and highlighted a part of her book.

Elsa didn't even notice him walking up to her. Or maybe she just didn't want to notice.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you."

Elsa looked up from her book and met the man's gaze.

"Yes?" she responded.

"I was over there, and now I'm over here." he said to her as he motioned to where he just was then to her, "You caught my eye so I had to come and say 'hi' because you, my dear, look absolutely amazing; eyes, hair. Beautiful; I love fair hair and eyes. Thank you for being a shining example of beauty."

The statement completely blindsided her and Elsa felt her face flush beet red as she nearly choked and brought her hand up to her face and covered her mouth, turning her head to the side.

"Ah...I...uh...thank you..." she stuttered, too flushed for words.

He just smiled at her.

"So what's your name?" he asked.

Elsa turned and faced him and returned his smile.

"Elsa." she said, offering her hand out.

"Elsa. What a delightful name." he smiled back as he graciously took her hand and shook it gently.

"Thank you." Elsa giggled as he released her hand.

"Where are you from, Elsa?" he asked her, "I hear an accent on you."

"Norway."

"Bergen?" he followed up immediately.

Elsa was shocked, slowly nodding her head.

"Ye...yes. How did you know?" she asked.

Tadashi laughed and shook his head.

"Because everyone else is from Oslo, and you look too unique and beautiful to be from Oslo." Tadashi grinned, making it obvious that he was joking and it was just a lucky guess.

"Yeah, okay." Elsa giggled, rolling her eyes.

A short moment of silence befell the two as he just remained present, smiling. It took everything in her power to not turn completely red.

"What...what about you?" she asked.

"Local. I'm a Bay Area boy." he responded.

"Ah." Elsa nodded.

He nodded back. They bathed in each other's presence before Elsa broke the silence as she picked up her cup and bringing it up to her lips.

"Well, aren't you going to tell me your name?" she mumbled as she took a sip of coffee to try to calm herself down.

"I don't think you'd be able to pronounce it." he joked

"Hah! Try me!" Elsa retorted confidently as she set her cup down and stared up at him, "I studied a bit of Japanese in school."

However, shortly after her shoulders dropped. She was very confident that he was Japanese but what if he wasn't?

"Erm...you _are_ Japanese, aren't you?"

He stared at her and smiled at her in silence for a few moments. Elsa felt her chest tighten from the tension in the air; both the tension of wondering if she guessed his ethnicity wrong and more importantly, the sexual tension. What was it about this man that was making her woo so hard?

"Are you going to ans-..."

"Tadashi." he cut off with a grin.

Elsa swallowed a lump in her throat that she didn't know she had as she let out a short breath of relief; so she _did_ get it right.

"Tadashi. Simple enough." Elsa responded to him with a sassy smirk.

Tadashi just stood his ground and smiled back at her. Elsa could feel her throat and chest tighten up again. Who _was_ this guy? Tadashi finally broke the silence and motioned at her and then back to where he was.

"Well listen, I have to get back to work, but it was great talking to you." he said, "You and I should get lunch this Thursday. I know a great little Mediterranean spot near AT&T Park and has a great view of the water."

"Yes, I would love that." she said, a soft smile creeping up her face.

"Wonderful! I look forward to seeing you there." he said as he turned around to return to work.

However, Elsa reached out to him as he walked away.

"Wa...wait! Can you let me know when?" she asked.

Tadashi turned and looked at her.

"I trust you'll figure it out." he said light-heartedly.

Elsa let out a chuckle and gripped her coffee cup with one hand and motioned him back with the other. Tadashi complied and walked back over to her.

"Just text me. My number is 415-5..." she said.

"Wait wait wait, I don't have a perfect memory." Tadashi cut off as he fished his Pixel 2 XL out of his pocket.

Elsa took a sip of coffee as he unlocked his phone and opened up the contacts.

"Okay, now you can tell me." Tadashi said, "Is it a local number or a Norwegian number?"

"It's a local number. I have a local SIM."

"I know, I was just teasing you." he chuckled.

Elsa chuckled as well, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. He tapped a couple times on his phone before looking back at her with that beautiful smile of his.

"Okay. Go ahead."

Elsa gulped before reciting her number.

"It's 415."

"4...1...5..." he repeated.

"555"

She couldn't help but smile to herself a little as she looked him up and down as he was taking her number.

"Uh-huh..." he nodded.

"8140."

He mouthed the last part to himself and then put her name in and then looked back at her.

"415-555-8140?" Tadashi repeated as he looked over at her.

"That's it." Elsa smiled.

"Alright, I'll send you a message by the end of the day so you know who I am." he smiled, "I'll see you around."

"Bye Tadashi~." Elsa said, letting her voice trail when she said his name and waving with her fingers.

He winked at her as he turned around and put his phone back in his pocket before going back to work. Elsa flushed again when he winked at her and swallowed a lump in her throat. She watched as he got back to work. Her eyes never left him as he finished cleaning the self-serve counter where the creams, napkins and sugars were before reporting back to the manager, who then assigned him to the barista to learn how to make drinks. He was smiling, laughing and joking with his co-workers and customers which made her sigh in content and smile dreamily at him. She didn't even realise how much she was looking at him until she saw him look back at her and wink. That threw her off and she cleared her throat and pretended to get back to work, looking at her laptop a few moments, peeking up to see if he was still looking at her. She let out another breath and then got back to work, but finding it hard to concentrate as she kept sneaking glances at Tadashi, her mind racing with thoughts of him.

"C'mon, Elsa. Get back to work..." Elsa mumbled to herself under her breath.


	2. Cass' Advice

"Tadashi, did you hear what he said?"

Tadashi inhaled sharply as he was pulled from his thoughts and he looked up at his aunt.

"I'm sorry, I was just...I...No, I didn't" Tadashi stuttered, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hiro was asking you if you're alright." she reinstated.

"Hm?" Tadashi hummed, looking over at his younger brother who was looking at him with concern in his eyes.

"You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Hiro said to him.

Tadashi chuckled a little at that.

"No, no, I just...am thinking is all." he mused aloud.

"Hey, I know you're really working hard to get your company off the ground, but you need to relax. That vacation didn't do you much good, did it?" Cass said to him.

He looked over at her.

"Wha? No, it's not that." Tadashi shook his head, "It's...it's something else."

"Well...did you want to...did you want to talk about it?" Hiro asked.

Tadashi looked over at him and then smiled as he let out a breath. He reached out and touched his hand gently.

"Perhaps later, Hiro. But thank you for the concern. I'm grateful that you care."

Hiro nodded his head and bit his lower lip. Cass also noticed that something was bothering him, but decided not to push it for the time being.

"So tell us more about your Portland trip!" Cass said in an attempt to lighten up the mood.

Tadashi looked over at her and then at Hiro and then smiled.

"Well..." he began.

The rest of the dinner conversation was upbeat and happy as he shared his stories about what he did in Portland. After dinner, the three went their separate ways to unwind the rest of the night. Hiro went to be a little early. Tadashi's mind was still racing. He was thinking so much about the blonde girl he had spoken to earlier. Both about her as well as their pending date. It was giving him a lot of anxiety. Finally, around midnight, he decided that he needed to go for a short walk and get some fresh air to clear his head. As he left his room, he noticed that Cass was washing dishes and humming to herself. He bit his lower lip as he contemplated asking her and decided that he would. He cleared his throat, making her turn and look at him and smiling before returning to what she was doing.

"Hey, Tadashi. You're up late." she said.

"Yeah..." he said.

"What's up?" she asked.

He sucked in a breath and then let it out.

"Aunt Cass, do you have a few minutes?" Tadashi asked.

"For what?" she hummed as she placed another dish on the rack.

"I want to talk. About what's been bugging me all day today." he admitted to her, "I need...some guidance."

Cass turned around and looked at him.

"Yes of course, sweetheart. I'd be delighted to talk and help any way I can. Could you give me a few minutes and let me finish the dishes first?" she said.

"Yeah, of course." he said, "Did you need any help?"

"I'm just about done, but thank you. I'll be just a couple more minutes." she smiled as she turned around to finish up what she was doing.

"Alright. No rush." he said.

He turned around and walked over to the table, sitting down and pulling his phone out as he waited for Cass to finish up what she was doing. A few minutes later when she was finished, she rolled her shoulders and neck.

"Alright Tadashi, what did you want to talk about?" she asked as she wiped the excess water off of the counter with the sponge.

Tadashi looked up at her, putting his phone back into his pocket.

"Actually, it's really nice outside. Could we walk and talk?" he asked, "The fresh air might help."

Cass looked over at him as she set the sponge down and wiped her hands off on her apron.

"Sure, of course." she nodded.

He stood up as she pulled off her apron and tossed it haphazardly on the countertop. The two made their way downstairs and outside, locking the door behind them and then began their walk down the street in the cool, crisp, clear night. Initially, Tadashi said nothing, just keeping his head forward. After a few minutes, Cass looked up at him and then cleared her throat.

"So are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Yeah, I just...am trying to find the right way to word it."

"Is it about your startup?" she asked.

Tadashi chuckled and shook his head.

"Actually, no, it's not. It has nothing to do with it at all, honestly." he told her as he rubbed the back of his head and turned to look at her.

"Well then what is it?" she asked, "Spit it out, boy!"

Tadashi chuckled again as he shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair before letting his hand fall to his side, facing forward.

"Well...basically...I need help with...uh..."

"Yes?" Cass prodded.

She studied him as he continued to struggle to find the right words to describe his situation. Or maybe it was that he was too embarrased to tell her what it was. Suddenly, Cass inhaled sharply and covered her mouth with both hands, making Tadashi turn and look at her as she looked at him incredulously.

"Oh my god…!" she said.

"What?"

"Did you get a girl pregnant?!" she asked.

Tadashi nearly recoiled, surprised and blindsided by the comment.

"What? No!"

"I always knew you were such a good-looking boy and girls would be all over you but for you to do something like that! I need a donut..." she rambled aloud as she ran her fingers through her hair and tugged at the ends.

"Aunt Cass, I didn't get a girl pregnant!" Tadashi exclaimed.

"Oh?" she said as she let her hands fall back to her sides, "Well then what the heck is bothering you, Tadashi? The suspense is killing me!"

"I...I asked a girl out and she said 'yes' and I don't know what to do." he finally admitted to her.

"Eh...?"

Cass stopped, mouth agape and slightly bent over as she stared at Tadashi incredulously. He stopped and turned and looked at her.

"What?"

"Did you just say you asked a girl out and she said 'yes'?" Cass clarified.

Tadashi's eyes shifted side to side before looking back at her and slowly nodding his head.

"Ye...yes…?" he said, unsure if she was upset.

Cass stared at him blank-face for a few moments longer, making Tadashi gulp in nervousness before she suddenly adopted a mischievous look on her face.

"You little scoundrel, I knew it was a girl problem!" she said before she suddenly jumped up and wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled his head down and into her bosom and holding him in a headlock and giving him a noogie.

Tadashi grumbled a little as she noogied him. He tried to push her away but she was holding on tight.

"Ow! Aunt Cass!" he whined.

"You wanna ask me about girls, huh?" Cass said to him.

"Ow! Yes! Ow!"

She kept it up for a couple seconds longer before letting him go, smirking as he straightened himself out and tried to fix his now-messy hair.

"So ask away, Tiger." Cass smirked, "I'll give you everything I've got."

After Tadashi finished fixing his hair, he looked at her, a little surprised.

"You mean...you're not upset?"

Cass laughed at that.

"Of course I'm not!" she said, "I don't have experience with dating women to speak of but being one myself, I'll answer any questions you may have so long as I have an answer to give."

Tadashi chuckled a little and rubbed the back of his head.

"Wow, hah, I have to admit...uh...I thought you might disapprove." he admitted to her.

"Well now I didn't say I was _happy_ about it." she corrected, "Only that I'd help since you asked."

"Oh..." he said.

Cass laughed again and punched his shoulder playfully.

"Relax, hun. I'm here to help!"

Tadashi laughed nervously as he rubbed his arm where she hit him.

"Now, what do you want to ask me?" she asked.

He sucked in a breath and let it out, shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know. Everything, I guess." he said, "Honestly, I'm surprised she even said yes. I literally went up to her and said she was beautiful then invited her to grab some Mediterranean food and she accepted."

"Wow, you did that?! I'm impressed! That's bold as hell!" she said.

"Well...I mean...yeah." he mused, "But I did it because I was like 'this girl's way out of my league so I have nothing to lose'."

"That's why it worked, sweetheart!" Cass told him, "Girls love that stuff because it never happens unless it's in a bar or something like that but then it becomes sleazy as hell. But doing it in...wait, where was this?"

"Erm...at a coffee shop." he mumbled, not wanting to tell her it was actually at theirs.

"Wow! See? That's impressive! That pretty much never happens in places like that and the few times it does, it's usually like...I don't know...'pick-up-y'? I don't know if that's the right word but I think you know what I mean." she told him, "Basically, it's like some pick-up guy trying to score or even more rare, a nervous, stuttering wreck who couldn't talk to women if his life depended on it. Both quite undesirable for being approached by."

Tadashi nodded his head.

"That's great. I'm proud of you, ya little rascal." she said as she nudged him.

He chuckled nervously as he turned away.

"So? What else?" she asked.

"I don't know, I just...I'm still shocked she said yes and gave me her number." he admitted, "I mean I said 'let's go grab lunch' and then walked away but she called me back and said 'how do I contact you' and I was like 'I trust you'll remember'."

"What kind of response is that?!" Cass said, bewildered.

"Well I mean, I said that because I was already in a state of panic that she said 'yes' and was just trying to play it cool." he chuckled.

"Or is it because you were getting cold feet and wanted to give yourself an easy out?" Cass prodded.

Tadashi sighed and nodded his head, "Yeah, that too."

Cass shook her head, "Tsk tsk. So then what?"

"Well, then she was like 'just take my number' and gave it to me and I was like 'oh, well, I need to go now. I'll text you later so you know my number'." he said next.

"So did you text her?"

Tadashi shook his head.

"What?! Why not? She gave you her number _willingly_!" she exclaimed.

He shook his head and shrugged his shoulder.

"I don't know. I didn't want to look needy, you know?"

"Tadashi, if you play that game, then she'll play it too!" she scolded, "Don't play the 3-day wait game. Only amateurs and losers play that game."

Tadashi laughed a little at that.

"No, I'm serious. If you play the game, she'll play too. That's how it works. We women are starved for men who are men and act like men." she told him, "And by you being bold like that, you embodied that masculine spirit and edge that we women are so starved for. But by doing the whole 'I don't wanna look needy so I'll wait and not text her back' then you're destroying yourself and setting yourself back a hundred-fold. There's nothing needy about texting her back, especially if you said you would!"

Tadashi swallowed a lump in his throat as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Text her now!" she urged.

"What, you mean like, _now_?" he said, "Like, _now_ now?"

"Yes! Right now! Get your phone out and text her right now!"

"It's kinda late, Aunt Cass..." Tadashi said.

"Ah!" she interrupted, "No excuses! That's just a lame excuse!"

Tadashi gave her a 'what the hell' look.

"It's like, past midnight!"

"Tadashi!" Cass exclaimed as she stamped her foot.

"Okay, okay!" Tadashi conceded.

He sucked in a breath and then pulled his phone out. He unlocked it and then opened up the messaging app and then paused, looking over at Cass.

"What do I say?" he asked her.

"Well, an apology for taking so long is a good start." she said.

"Well I mean, like...okay." he said, shaking his head as he began to type his message.

"Sweetie, _what_ you say isn't really that important. The only important thing is that you _do_ say _something_."

He just nodded his head as he continued to type away. After he was (somewhat) satisfied with what he had written, he hesitated to send it. That didn't escape Cass' gaze.

"You done?" she asked.

"Well...yeah." he said.

"Okay, so send it."

"I will."

She watched him as he continued to hesitate sending it.

"Well?"

"Don't rush me, Aunt Cass!" he said.

"Send the message, Tadashi." she said to him, "I know you're holding back."

Tadashi sucked in a breath long and slow and let it out even slower.

"Send it!"

The instant she said that, his hit the send button and then took in another breath and let it out, stuffing his phone back into his pocket.

"Alright, there. Happy?" he said.

"Yes."

"Okay, now what?" he asked next, turning to her.

"You've done your part, sweetie. Now the ball is in her court."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

He sucked in a breath and let it out. A bout of silence befell the two as they continued their walk, enjoying the crisp night air. Tadashi finally broke the silence.

"So let's say I hear back from her and we end up going out. What do I say then?"

"Why are you worried about that? You haven't gotten to that point." she responded simply.

"Well I know that, but I'm just saying like, what if it _does_ get to that point?"

"Then you cross that bridge when you come to it."

"Yeah, but..." Tadashi started.

Cass raised her hand to interrupt him.

"Don't think so much about something that may or may not happen. It'll kill your spirits and make everything feel fake." she told him, "And if it gets to that point and you two end up going out, then say whatever feels natural in the moment."

Tadashi slowly nodded his head, trying to comprehend what she was saying.

"What you have to understand, sweetheart, is that women want to be caught up in something greater than themselves." she told him, "We all have our jobs or classes or whatever that we're tired of and want to get away from just as much as the next person. I can guarantee you this girl is the same way; she's tired of the mundane life that she lives of going to school or work and paying her bills or whatever and she probably wants a man who will make her forget about that and make her the centre of an adventurous love story. That's why she responded so well to your boldness."

"I see..." he mused.

"Look, Tadashi. Let me let you in on a little secret on us women." she said, "Listen carefully, because most men don't understand this concept. And maybe you won't understand initially either but hearing it might make something click in your head."

"Alright." he said.

"Through a woman's life runs two...ribbons, let's call them." she started.

Tadashi nodded, "Okay."

She held her hands out on each side.

"On one hand, you have the ribbon of security." she said, clenching her right hand, "This represents her with her hair up, dressed up all business-like and going in to work and having the roof over her head and car and being prim and proper all of that kind of stuff and the kind of man representative of that."

She then clenched her left fist.

"And in _this_ hand, is the ribbon of adventure." she said, "This represents her with her hair down and running in the field of flowers and being free and having that mischievous spirit of wanting to be chased, bent over and spanked a little and the man representative of _that_."

Tadashi nearly choked when he heard her say the last part but Cass remained serious.

"These are both beautiful ribbons to hold onto and both are necessary in a woman's life. But the problem is that she either has one ribbon or the other, and she needs both." Cass explained, "Most men are either one or the other. They're either great providers but poor lovers or great lovers but poor providers...and a woman wants and needs _both_ a great provider _AND_ lover."

"I...I see."

"But here's the thing; it's not hard to _be_ both. Because being a 'good provider' doesn't mean being a millionaire. It just means that you're on top of your finances and are good with what you have and you live within your means." she told him, making a balancing motion with her hands, "And being a 'good lover' doesn't really mean being a Casanova, it just means that you're attentive and fully present when you're with her. Pay no mind to the modern expectation of millionaire provider or Casanova-like lover. It's superfluous and unnecessary."

Cass took a breath and recollected her thoughts. Tadashi remained silent as he watched her, waiting for more wisdom from her.

"You know, I think the best way to put it is this; men have lost the knowledge, ability and desire to seduce. They're too afraid to do it because they don't want to be looked at as a 'creep' or 'rapist' or whatever and I get it, but it's wrong." she said, "Seduction has become something of a dirty word but it's not, it's a very beautiful one. It's just that it's been muddied and the meaning has been lost and twisted out of context to mean something that it's not."

She then looked over at him.

"But, let me be clear. I'm not just blaming men; we women have our own work to do and are just as guilty. Please don't get the idea that I'm saying that 'it's men's fault'. That's not what I'm saying at all."

Tadashi nodded his head.

"I understand."

Cass went quiet again as she raked through her brain. She inhaled and opened her mouth and was going to say something but then closed it as she tried to find a good way to word it.

"You know, I think it was Woody Allen that said that '80% of success is just showing up'. There's so much truth in that, it's shocking." Cass mused aloud, "Women don't care if you're nervous, because they're nervous too. They're in their heads thinking 'oh, I shouldn't have eaten that garlic today' or 'I don't feel fresh down there' and 'I hope he doesn't come too close because he's really cute'. So they go 'yes', 'no', 'mmhmm', 'uh-huh' and then you think you're not engaging her on an emotional level or you're not funny enough. So the nervousness is not bad, what's bad is not showing up. Not saying 'you know what, yeah I'm nervous, but here I am at least'."

"But what about, you know, if she gives a bad response?" he asked

"You know what, I'll tell you. Like I said, women have their own work to do. There's a lot of manipulative, insecure, bitchy women just like there are a lot of manipulative, insecure bitchy men. And so you're going to run into it and that's the way it goes." Cass told him, "But the way I see it is; why go where you're energy's blocked? It's like riding a bicycle with the brakes on. If she gives you bad attitude, then move on."

"Mmkay." Tadashi nodded slowly.

"I guess if I could give you just one piece of advice for your date, it's 'ease and delight'." she said.

"Ease and delight." he repeated.

"Yeah, you know?" Cass nodded, "Just keep it nice and light and don't get heavy. Women don't like heavy."

"Okay, I think I understand what you mean."

They turned the corner and headed down the street back to their house.

"But anyway...yeah...I guess that's the best I can leave you with." she said, "I hope I didn't give you information overload."

Tadashi shook his head, "No, no. It was great. Thank you so much."

"Of course, dear. Any time." she said, "I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to ask me."

He nodded his head. They then arrived back at their house, unlocking the door and then heading inside. Cass yawned and stretched out as they walked in and closed and locked the door behind them.

"Well, anyways, I'm going to head to sleep. Good night, Tadashi." Cass said.

"Alright, good night Aunt Cass. Thank you again for the talk. I feel a lot better now."

"Any time." she said as she held out her arms.

Tadashi smiled as he wrapped his arms around her and the two embraced. She then let him go and then stepped back.

"Alright, good night." she said before heading off to her room.

Tadashi let out a breath and then headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower. He reflected on what she had said to them; it was a lot of deep information that he didn't quite fully understand, but he looked forward to finding out. His shower lasted a little longer than he wanted since he was in such deep thought. He headed to his room and plopped onto the bed. He plugged in his phone to charge and then brought the blankets over him. He stared into the ceiling as he felt sleep begin to wash over him. He inhaled and then exhaled before closing his eyes and succumbing to sleep.

"Ease and delight..."


End file.
